Comparative Politics | Development & Migration | Technology & Media

Fulbright-Clinton Fellowship: Quite the welcome

So this week is the orientation week for 23 of my colleagues and me as we prepare to head off and do our Fulbright-Clinton Fellowships. People will be going all over: Burma, Ethiopia, Haiti, Malawi, Samoa, Cote D’Ivoire and Guatemala. What really struck me was the history and the timelessness of the Fulbright program. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joined us at the Woodrow Wilson Center for pictures and hand shakes; this program is named after her, since she was the Secretary of State who pushed for a public service component to the Fulbright student program. In person she’s captivating – I reckon all of us were overawed when she walked in.

What was equally amazing was meeting William J. Fulbright’s wife. Mrs. Fulbright was in attendance, and it was an honor to meet a someone who, like Mrs. Clinton, embodies public service and internationalism in such a genuine way.

It’s beyond exciting to carry on the Fulbright legacy, and to have the chance to go back to the country I served in as a Peace Corps volunteer with real skills and knowledge means a great deal to me.

I’ll be doing tech and disaster management work, so all my techy friends should be in touch. You might just score a trip to paradise while making the world a better place: